Formentera Partners and Daly Waters Energy Begin Natural Gas Commissioning at Beetaloo Basin Facility
Formentera Partners and its Australian operating company, Daly Waters Energy (DWE), have announced the start of natural gas commissioning at the Sturt Plateau Compression Facility (SPCF), marking a significant milestone for the development of the Beetaloo Basin and the future supply of natural gas in Australia’s Northern Territory.
The commencement of commissioning brings the project closer to commercial operations and represents the completion of a major piece of infrastructure required to transport natural gas produced from the Beetaloo Basin to customers across the Northern Territory. With the facility now receiving gas from connected wells, the project is entering an important operational phase that will test and prepare the infrastructure for sustained gas processing and delivery.
The SPCF has been developed to support the initial commercialization of natural gas resources in the Beetaloo Basin, one of Australia’s most closely watched emerging shale gas regions. The basin has attracted increasing interest from energy companies and investors because of its large-scale resource potential and its potential role in strengthening long-term energy security for the Northern Territory and other Australian markets.
Bryan Sheffield, Managing Partner of Formentera, described the start of commissioning as an important achievement for both the project partners and the Northern Territory.
“This is a great day for the Northern Territory,” Sheffield said. “Four years ago, we said we would bring U.S. shale know-how to the Northern Territory, and today the plant is built, five wells are tied in, three additional wells are being drilled, and natural gas is flowing through the facility.”
Sheffield said the progress made by the partnership demonstrates the potential for cooperation among industry, government and local communities to accelerate the responsible development of new energy resources.
“Our partnership delivered on time and on budget,” he said. “That’s rare in a frontier basin, and it demonstrates what companies, governments, and local communities can do when they work together. The Beetaloo is one step closer to moving beyond potential to a reliable, long-term supply source for the Territory.”
The Sturt Plateau Compression Facility is owned by the SPCF Trust, which is structured as a 50/50 joint venture between Daly Waters Energy and Tamboran Resources Corporation. DWE holds its interest through Daly Waters Infrastructure, a wholly owned subsidiary, while Tamboran serves as the operator of the project.
The joint venture structure brings together the development capabilities and resources of the participating companies as they work to establish the infrastructure needed to move natural gas from the Beetaloo Basin into the Northern Territory market.
The facility has a nameplate processing capacity of 48.5 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, equivalent to approximately 50 terajoules per day. A substantial portion of that capacity has already been secured under a long-term supply arrangement, providing a foundation for the commercial development of the project.
Under a take-or-pay agreement, 38.8 million cubic feet per day, or approximately 40 terajoules per day, of natural gas capacity is contracted to the Northern Territory Government. The agreement has a term of up to 15 years, creating a long-term commitment for gas supply and providing greater certainty for the development of the facility and associated upstream operations.
The long-term contract is expected to play an important role in supporting energy availability for households, businesses and industrial users in the Northern Territory. As energy demand evolves, new sources of domestic natural gas could become increasingly important in supporting electricity generation, industrial development and broader economic activity.
A key part of the commissioning milestone is the completion and connection of the wells located on the Shenandoah South 2 pad. All five wells on the pad have now been drilled, completed and tied back to the Sturt Plateau Compression Facility.
With gas now flowing from these wells through the facility, the project partners can conduct commissioning activities and test the integrated performance of the production, gathering, compression and processing systems.
The development program is also continuing beyond the five wells currently connected to the plant. Three additional wells are being drilled as the partnership advances its appraisal and development activities across its acreage position in the basin.
The continued drilling activity reflects the companies’ efforts to better understand the scale and productivity of the underlying resource while building the operational capability required for future expansion.
Another notable aspect of the SPCF project is its delivery performance. The facility was completed on schedule and within its gross budget of approximately US$99 million.
Delivering a major energy infrastructure project on time and within budget is particularly significant in a frontier basin, where infrastructure development, logistics, supply chains and operational conditions can present challenges not typically encountered in more mature producing regions.
The successful completion of the facility provides the project partners with a critical foundation as they seek to transition the Beetaloo Basin from an emerging resource play into an operating natural gas-producing region.
Natural gas produced through the facility will also be sold during the commissioning period. This means the infrastructure is expected to begin generating commercial value while operational systems are being tested and prepared for full-scale service.
Formentera entered the Beetaloo Basin in 2022, beginning a development effort aimed at applying experience and technology from established U.S. shale plays to Australia’s emerging unconventional gas sector.
In the four years since entering the basin, Formentera has built a substantial acreage position. The company now holds approximately 1.9 million net acres, giving it one of the largest onshore shale acreage positions in the Beetaloo Basin.
The scale of this position provides the company and its partners with significant exposure to the long-term development potential of the region.
Formentera has emphasized similarities between the geological characteristics of the Beetaloo Basin and proven shale formations in the United States. The company has pointed to the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania as one example of an established U.S. shale play that shares important characteristics with the resource being developed in the Northern Territory.
The application of U.S. shale development experience is central to Formentera’s strategy in Australia. Over the past several decades, the U.S. shale industry has developed specialized expertise in horizontal drilling, hydraulic fracturing, completion design and large-scale unconventional resource development.
The transfer of this technical knowledge and operational experience could help accelerate the commercial development of the Beetaloo Basin if the resource continues to demonstrate strong production performance.
A series of successful appraisal wells has supported growing confidence in the scale of the basin’s resource potential. According to the companies, results from these wells point toward the possibility of multi-trillion-cubic-foot natural gas resources.
Such a resource base could have implications beyond the Northern Territory.
Initially, Beetaloo gas is expected to contribute to meeting the energy needs of customers in the Territory. Over time, larger-scale development could potentially support additional domestic markets, including major population centers and industrial regions along Australia’s East Coast.
The companies also believe that the development of substantial gas resources in the basin could eventually support Australia’s LNG industry by helping to backfill existing export capacity and support future growth.
Australia remains a major global supplier of liquefied natural gas, and long-term investment in new gas resources could play an important role in maintaining supply as existing producing fields mature.
Formentera and Daly Waters Energy have continued to strengthen their position in the basin through partnerships and additional investment.
In March 2026, Formentera and DWE announced that they had joined with INPEX, one of the world’s leading LNG providers, to accelerate development activity in the Beetaloo Basin.
The involvement of an established global LNG company represents an additional source of industry experience and financial capability for the development program.
The partnership is expected to support further appraisal, drilling and infrastructure development as the companies seek to advance the basin toward larger-scale production.
In August, the group also announced plans to add a Helmerich & Payne FlexRig® to support future drilling operations. The rig is expected to arrive during the second quarter of 2027.
The planned addition of the FlexRig is intended to increase the group’s drilling capability and support the next stages of development. Additional drilling capacity will be important as the companies continue to evaluate their acreage, develop new well locations and potentially expand gas production over time.
The start of commissioning at the Sturt Plateau Compression Facility therefore represents more than the completion of a single infrastructure project. It marks an important transition in the broader development of the Beetaloo Basin.
For years, the basin has been viewed as a potentially significant source of natural gas, but its development has depended on continued drilling success and the construction of the infrastructure needed to gather, process and transport production to customers.
With the SPCF now operationally connected to five completed wells, those pieces are increasingly coming together.
As commissioning continues and natural gas sales begin, the project partners will focus on demonstrating reliable facility performance and advancing the next phase of drilling and resource development.
The combination of long-term contracted capacity, completed production infrastructure, additional wells under development and expanding partnerships provides the project with a platform for further growth.
For the Northern Territory, the project could contribute to the development of a new long-term source of domestic natural gas. For the companies involved, it represents an opportunity to establish a leading position in one of Australia’s most significant emerging unconventional gas regions.
The progress achieved since Formentera entered the basin in 2022 highlights the speed at which the partnership has moved from an early-stage acreage position toward an integrated development program with producing wells, compression infrastructure and contracted gas supply.
With natural gas now flowing through the Sturt Plateau Compression Facility, the Beetaloo Basin has moved another step closer to becoming a commercial and reliable contributor to Australia’s energy landscape.
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